08:57 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Announcements

We are back! During the past four hours MobileRead had been migrated to a new server. Except for the photo gallery, all features are back and running.

You would do us a big favor if you could report any problems or annoyances you may encounter. We are more than happy to change things around.

A few things that are new:

• Frontpage. Beside the news, our frontpage also shows the latest hot topics, the latest polls, the latest Wiki edits, and the latest files attached to the forum.
• Forum software. There are too many small changes to list here. The biggest improvement is that now a thread is marked read only if you have actually read it. Also, threads that are older than 10 days will be marked as read. Previously, all threads were automatically considered read once you've been inactive for a certain amount (cookie-based).
• Fixed Layout: If you prefer our traditional liquid look, check out this post.

What has not changed yet is our design. We are still waiting for our designer to deliver some results. I have great hopes that the results will be great, but until then, you'll have to stick to my obnoxious html skillz

02:38 PM by vranghel in E-Book General | News

Tim O'Reilly (owner of O'Reilly Media) has published a case study on a book that was available as a free download aswell as in stores.

The quick answer from this experiment is that we saw no definitive correlation, but there is little sign that the free downloads hurt sales. More than 180,000 copies were downloaded from Jeremy's mirror (which is one of five!), yet the book has still been quite successful, selling almost 19,000 copies in a year and a half. This is quite good for a technical book these days -- the book comes in at #23 on our lifetime-to-date sales list for the "class of 2005" (books published in 2005) despite being released at the end of September. You might argue that the book would have done even better without the downloads, especially given the success of asterisk and the importance of VoIP. But it's also the case that the book is far and away the bestseller in the category, far outperforming books on the same subject from other publishers.

Meanwhile, we saw a huge spike in downloads starting at the beginning of this year, but didn't see a corresponding drop in print book sales, other than the continued slow erosion that's typical of books in print (especially one that's heading towards a second edition.) However, we did see the book's first fall from grace, dropping from an average run rate of about a thousand copies a month to about six hundred back in March 2006 coming at about the same time that we start showing the free downloads, but we're not sure whether or not that is just because we don't have earlier download data -- the book should have been available online sooner after publication even though Jeremy didn't start his mirror till March. (Next time we do a book available for free download, we'll be careful to collect accurate data from the start of the project.) .

Free Downloads vs. Sales: A Publishing Case Study [via]

11:45 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Here's what I think the Foleo line of business really is in Palm's mind...

In essence, this thing is (or at least will be in the future) an Internet tablet in the form factor of a highly portable laptop, and tightly coupled with the smart phone.

If this is true, you can characterize these devices with three basic points:
1) Web applications and browsing
2) Data connectivity through the smart phone
3) Integration of data and applications with the smart phone

With those guiding points, and a lot more technology and price improvements over the future, I think it makes sense as a significant line of business that has unlimited potential.

The entire future of web applications will be available on the Foleo. There is no limit to the creative ways that the smartphone applications can integrate the two and make life simpler for the user. And additional features like 3rd party applications, OneNote lookalikes, multimedia, e-books, etc are a natural addition. Even the hardware can have all kinds of form factors and capabilities (like touchscreens). It could be anything from dumb terminal to super computer in your pocket (Clarification: Well, technically, this probably wouldn't make any sense if it actually fit in your pocket, because that's where your smart phone would be. But it certainly could be a high powered device and it could couple with anything from a simple feature phone to a top of the line high powered smart phone of the future.) Maybe even some UMPC models running Windows, but the key for Palm is that it has Palm's special flavor of usability and integration. That's one reason why Treo works - Palm has insisted on implementing its own special usability characteristics that you don't find elsewhere.

When you look at it this way, it's clear that the first device is just the tip of the iceberg. And the future is wide open. It looks bright for Palm if they can execute. And Jeff Hawkins can still be our hero. And once again the world makes sense!

11:10 AM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

As you can probably tell, I've developed a new technology induced disease which was passed on to me by Jeff Hawkins. It's called "Mental Foleo-itis!" I can't stop thinking about this device and wrestling with what Palm might have in mind for it.

I'm beginning to think that the lack of detail about where the Foleo line of products is going and the lack of specifications is intentional. They have a goal that we don't know about, and it is only going to make sense to us when we know where they are headed.

As a result, I wonder if the only proper treatment for "Foleo-itis" is for me to buy one to put in my very own hands. This quest to understand the potential and future of the Foleo is consuming me, and is in great need of concrete evidence and facts. It might be worth the $500 just to have something to work with as I try to read Hawkins' mind and see Palm's plans. Obviously, it's not worth $500 for the stated purpose!

So I tell you right now - there's something missing. More secrets. He's a smart guy, and this simply cannot be the whole picture. One day the secret will be revealed and it will all make sense.

So I'm actually thinking about buying one (on the condition that it can use my existing data plan without additional charges). Partly to play with it and try to understand its potential, but also for web browsing on the go. I think that if the browser has good support of web standards, then I would get a lot of use out of that. Of course, you can already do that on a laptop or UMPC, but let's ignore that fact for the moment.

Is there anyone else out there that's crazy enough to even consider for a moment throwing away $500 on this device, or is it just me?

09:24 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

"If we were to tell you that the mobile content industry generates more annual revenue than internet content does, you would probably be more than a little surprised. According to recent findings however, the content on mobile networks is worth $31bn in comparison to the web’s $25bn."

That's a bit of a shocker, and it will only get bigger with the addition of more significant mobile services in the future. See PocketPics for the full story.

In related news, PocketPicks is also reporting web applications into a mobile application that will be like "SMS gone wild." That may be very good news for internet tablets and the Foleo and mobile computing in general.

07:36 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book Readers | Alternative Devices

Okay, so the Foleo looks like a dud with potential at best. Not so fast!

I want to propose a simple change in the design and purpose that would make it the killer device that it should have been in the first place, and it would be so good that I would run out and buy one as soon as it's released.

Here are the three simple additions to the Foleo that make it a winner:

1) Make it a touchscreen convertible tablet device that you can write on
2) Add a program like OneNote, with smart phone sync
3) Put a decent calendar program on it that uses the big screen and keyboard

Now that's a revolutionary device that I would buy, and I bet they could sell it for $600. Later they can improve it even more with more storage, faster processor, multimedia and so forth. But this makes it a device I want now!

How do you describe such a device? As a Franklin Planner. You remember - those things that everyone carried around until smart phones came out. Why did people carry them around? Because it served an important purpose. People had their life in there. Calendar, reference material, notes, addresses and so forth.

Instead of paper, now a lot of people have half rate solutions. A smartphone is convenient, but have you ever used the calendar in them? It barely suffices, and mostly it's for geeks. You can't see much on the screen so it's hard to use as a calendar. What about notes? It's hard to capture text or writing.

Those who use paper don't have a backup, they don't have password protection, they don't have search capability, they can only carry a limited amount, they have to keep buying refills, they have lots of things scratched out or falling out. In short, it's limited because it's paper and not electronic.

Now we're talking about a real life need being satisfied. PDAs and smart phones didn't do it. Paper has severe limitations (of which backup is a very important one - people often have a great fear of what would happen if they lost their paper planner). UMPCs aren't really integrated really well with the smartphone yet, and are going to be a little more expensive for a while. But the Foleo can be simple and cheap and small, and it can meet a need. It can be your electronic planner.

Even the phrase "electronic planner" has a bad connotation now because it's so hard to use PDAs that way. But not the Foleo with a touch screen.

Ask just about any tablet pc owner. What is one of the most loved programs and uses for a tablet pc? It's OneNote. They can take notes and organize them with web clippings and documents and find it easily even if it's handwritten. Want to pull up your notes from that conference call last week? You can do it. Want to know what the sermon from last week was about? Pull up your notes. Want to remember what the house you saw Friday was like from the back? Pull up the picture you took. (Whoops - no camera you say? No problem because there's a camera in your smart phone, so if properly integrated you can add pictures on the spot.)

So if they had Bob Russell on the design team at Palm, that's the device you would have. Maybe a two-tier option. Simple Foleo for barebones field organizations to roll out cheaply with custom applications, and a consumer Foleo for executives and regular people who actually want to do something with it!

Let's do a little poll on this. Tell me what you think. (Click on the full article to see the poll.)

03:42 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Okay, we've had a day to clear our heads and begin the long process of evaluating the Foleo. Almost universally, we didn't like what we first saw, and we strained a bit to understand what it can do and why someone would buy one. (My number one target market would be field organizations that already need phones, but also need to run applications like sales force automation or have access to centralized web applications or resources.)

So, while we are continuing to formulate our opinions, and as they shift this way and that way as we look at the Foleo from all kinds of angles, there is one interesting angle I haven't seen talked about much.

If the Foleo is the start of a third line of business for Palm, then where is it headed, and how can we judge it?

Clearly, we can't just look at the limited first version. If we were to judge the entire future of the Palm Pilot based on the first model, or the entire line of Palm Treos based on the first Handspring model, we would be missing the boat. Same for the Foleo.

So consider a theoretical Foleo device of the future:

* Relatively cheap
* A common, widespread version of Linux
* Light and convenient to carry
* Built like a rock and hard to break
* Like a UMPC, but based on Linux
* Makes email, web browsing, multimedia and document creation/editing simple
* Data and applications are tightly integrated with your smart phone. Applications have Foleo and smart phone components (sort of like some software has desktop and PDA components, but continuously in sync and more tightly coupled).
* Almost everything you want to do can be done via the fully capable and speedy web browser. In the future, there's no reason not to expect just about every kind of application to be available in a web application version. Future applications are also expected to be able to handle periods of offline activity. Multiple companies are working on that already, like Adobe and Google.
* Your smartphone is always with you, and when your Foleo is with you there is really no need to worry about moving data around or synching back up, because as far as you are concerned it's available the same way no matter which device you choose to use.
* Foleo's could ultimately become so cheap that you could leave them laying around the house. Libraries and schools could have them, in versions that work with any smartphone or application in conjunction with web versions of applications. They could become as commonplace as Tribbles on the Enterprise.
* Full fledged PCs could also eventually sync in similar manners to the Foleo/smart phone pairings, meaning that your smart phone has "everything you need" to personalize your computing experience, and you can use other computing form factors for more power and more input/output flexibility. Yet never have to worry about syncing.
* Your smart phone always gives you access, and on one data plan, no matter what computer you use.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. It's sort of like a mobile and desktop and web computing utopia, and the Foleo concept is the key missing piece right now. It just has to mature. A lot!

If you think back about Hawkins' original statement about how this new line of business is a natural evolution of mobile computing and persistent connections and increased performance in mobile devices, it starts to make a lot more sense.

Maybe I'm still missing the boat (because I still have trouble understanding how the first generations of Foleo's are going to sell), but if we judge the future of the Foleo by ignoring technological limitations of today, you can't help but think that Hawkins may really be onto something. Maybe it's a little fuzzy even in his mind because of the uncertainty of exactly what can be done on the hardware/software/social side of things. But maybe he's still a great visionary, and is one of the first to try to verbalize the future of computing. Maybe with the Foleo, he's the first to take a step in that direction (well, technically Microsoft is probably pursuing a parallel direction with the UMPC and Win Mobile, but aiming at a more powerful client that runs Windows, of course).

Take a step back from the technology of this current generation of Foleo and see if maybe we can still see the forest despite the trees.

12:48 PM by NatCh in E-Book Readers | Sony Reader

A number of MobileReaders have noticed that prices seem to be dropping on Readers around the web. igorsk reported that ABT Electronics has reduced their prices, induna pointed out that Fry's Electronics has also dropped.

After some poking around, I found that Best Buy is currently offering a $50 "instant rebate" on the Reader. and a quick survey of other sites revealed that J&R Music and Computer World, and CompUSA, are apparently doing something similar. What started out looking like one retailer bucking the trend, is looking more like an actual price drop!

However, since the $50 drop is specifically presented as a "rebate" by some of the retailers, it seems likely that it may be a temporary thing. But pile it up with the "$149" ConnStore credits, and it's a pretty nice deal.